13/10/2026
I've thought long and hard about writing this, and even longer and harder about posting it - so if you're seeing this on social media then I must've decided to put these thoughts forward. If you choose to read beyond this paragraph, thank you for receiving my words with compassion - the emotional fatigue of this industry sometimes [more frequently than I would like to admit] feels too heavy to bear.
This past month we've done two post mortems on behalf of a veterinary practice I am absolutely blessed to be able to work with -
The orthopaedic findings were pretty significant with both horses, with one horse having fractured withers and concurrent trauma to the surrounding soft tissues, multiple fractured ribs and evidence of a healed fracture with bony irregularities on C7.
You could palpate the irregularity over the horse's withers but her posture, whilst not normal, didn't look like the typical slabbed-up fractured withers you commonly see. She had restricted range of motion in her neck and she also found receiving hoof care extremely challenging.
She had significant behavioural things going on, and thankfully her owner and her vet advocated for her brilliantly - she was retired from ridden work and when her welfare state declined, a difficult decision was made.
A little while ago, I was doing my infrequent scroll on Facebook - something I have increasingly been avoiding because I don't appreciate how strangers on the internet can somehow have the power to completely hijack my mood... but I guess sometimes I can't help but be the perpetrator of my own suffering.
I happened across a post which essentially proclaimed that horsemanship really started to die when people stopped hitting their horses to reprimand them for biting. The comments section was filled with people proudly gloating about how they do indeed hit their horses, discussing the many ways and contexts that they do it, and justifying it with "horses in the wild punish other horses for unwanted behaviours".
And honestly? I absolutely despair.
I despair about the lack of empathy towards another being on this planet.
I despair that we are apparently so ignorant to the fact that just because we don't fully understand another animal doesn't mean they are stupid, or lack feelings.
I appreciate that horses do weird things that we don't understand, and have the propensity for injury we cannot imagine or comprehend, let alone work up with a vet or diagnose with imaging -
I think of the horses that we have post mortemed recently, their respective behaviours and the subsequent findings, and I can't help but think about all those horses out there who may be dealing with debilitating pain that are - frankly - being abused for trying to communicate their lived experience.
I despair that, when the only way a horse can communicate is through their facial expression, oral behaviours and behavioural expression, there are people out there who, instead of thinking about why they might be doing it in the first place, still see fit to punish them.
I also think about all the people who are gaslit into behaving like that by the very professionals that should be advocating for their horse.
And how, despite an ever growing body of research, we apparently still have so much work to.
A question that I can't help but ask is this:
Do we really love our horses?
Because some people sure have a bizarre way of showing it.
"If I assume that all animals have subjective feelings of pain, fear, hunger, and the like, if I am mistaken in doing do, no harm will have been done.
But if I assume the contrary, when in fact animals do have such feelings, then I open the way to unlimited cruelties...
Animals must have the benefit of the doubt, if indeed there be any doubt"
- Anonymous via Marc Bekoff, The Emotional Lives of Animals
